In The Arms Of An Angel
by ConfusedColumbia26220
Summary: Oneshot. After losing a premature child of her own, Regina decides to keep babies in the NICU of the hospital company. One day a very premature baby boy comes in, to whom Regina grows very attached. She's there one day when his blonde mother comes to visit.


It had been a stressful pregnancy, followed by a premature birth, with an accompanying postpartum depression. Being a business woman trying to have a baby on her own was hard enough, but one that was so sick and small she hadn't even gotten to hold her? Honestly, the birth was early enough she could have used what was left of her maternity leave to visit while allowed, but just the thought of it pained her too deeply. So, as soon as she was physically cleared, she returned to work. What else could she do? It was the only thing that could make her feel like she wasn't a failure.

It was only weeks later, closer to the more appropriate time range for the birth to have happened, when she got the call and got to the hospital too late that the guilt sank in. She had missed her daughter's entire life, not only because she was too busy, but she had chosen to be busy over visiting her child. It had been so easy to nearly forget she had one at all, until the day she was gone and she realized what she had and could have had all that time.

After a year of guilt and blaming herself for what had happened, she finally got an idea of something she could do that might balance the scales, so that no one else would have to go through what she had. On the anniversary of her daughter's death, Regina walked into the hospital and strode right up to the desk for the NICU. "I have a strange request," she announced.

"I lost my baby girl here a year ago today. I had postpartum depression and made myself too busy to visit her. I would like to spare any other baby and parent from the same fate. May I visit with those healthy enough for it, perhaps the lonelier ones that don't get as much affection as others?"

The nurse had to bring it up to their supervisor, as it was an unusual request, though ultimately it was allowed. Regina got herself sat in a chair while the nurse selected which baby would get the first visit. It was a squirmy little thing with a powerful set of lungs that seemed to settle immediately once in Regina's arms, looking up at her in curiosity.

"Hello, there," Regina's voice broke, eyes welling with tears. "Why is this one here?"

"Hypoglycemic," the nurse answered.

"I see," Regina whispered, stroking a fingertip along the babe's cheek.

Before she knew it, Regina had been sitting there for hours and had gotten to hold so many babies. When visiting hours wrapped up, she found she didn't want to leave. "Can I come back? I think I'd like to do this regularly."

"You've been great with them. I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem."

Thus began Regina beginning to spend every free moment with those babies. At first it was only days off, then she found herself making up excuses and skipping work to spend time with the babies. Eventually, she took an early retirement so there was nothing left to hold her back. Any day she was allowed, she was at the hospital's NICU, spending time with as many of them as possible.

She tried not to get super attached to any of them. In general, there was enough care there for her to be happy for those that got healthy enough to be returned to their parents, and for her to mourn those that didn't make it. But she wasn't their family, so she tried not to let any become favorites. She was fairly successful at it.

Then one day there was this incredibly tiny premature boy that was brought in, so small he was kept in incubator that only had a couple holes to allow hand contact.

"I know I can't hold him like some of the others, but can I visit anyway? Maybe touch an arm or his belly, just let him know he's not alone?" Regina asked.

"You'll have to wear gloves and a mask."

"I can do that. Does he have a name?"

"Not yet."

Regina shook her head sadly. She slipped on some gloves and put on the mask before approaching the incubator. "What shall I call you, little one, hm?" Careful of all the various tubes and wires, she put her hand in through one of the holes. With a featherlight touch, she stroked the short distance from his shoulder to his fingers. She looked up when she heard the heart monitor beep faster, and saw that the numbers were rising to a healthier heart rate. She looked back down at him with a smile. "I think I'll call you Warrior, as you seem to be a fighter."

He had her wrapped around his finger already.

Each day, she was sure to check on him. She would ask about Warrior, and after a while, the other nurses had caught on to who she meant. Instead of calling him Baby John Doe, they began calling him Warrior as well.

Regina spent time with other babies, but Warrior soon became the first one she wanted to see upon arrival, and the last she wanted to see before departing. Days became weeks, and over that time Regina watched him grow bigger and stronger. Before long, he was ready to be out of the incubator, though still needed to stay in the NICU. Regina cried when she was finally able to hold him and it was hard to put her little Warrior down.

In a blink, it seemed, there wasn't much wrong with Warrior at all and they were only still keeping him in NICU as a precaution, time being the only remaining factor in determining whether all milestones for discharge had yet been met.

One day, Warrior stole all of Regina's attention. He was the first she gave it to that day, and clearly had no intention of letting anyone else have it. He grasped her fingers and pulled at her hair. He even screamed when a nurse tried to take him away to feed him. Regina was given the privilege of doing so, as he only seemed to want her. In all the time she had been coming, this was the first Regina had ever been able to feed one of the babies. Most of them were too sick, or had special, specific diets, but Warrior was so big now, looking at him would never tell anyone he had been born too early. From out of nowhere, as she fed him, Regina began to sing,

 _"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine . . ._

 _. . . You make me happy when skies are gray . . ._

 _. . . You'll never know dear, how much I love you . . ."_

At that moment, a frazzled, young blonde wandered in. "I was told my son is almost normal healthy now?" she asked, looking around. "My name is Emma Swan."

The nurse looked between Regina with Warrior, and the blonde. She cleared her throat. "Yes, he's right here."

Regina finally looked up at the woman, not having paid much attention until that moment. She almost seemed teenager young. "I've been calling him Warrior."

"You don't look like a nurse."

Regina chuckled. "I'm not. I … It's a long story, but I've been visiting the babies in here for a couple years now, giving them company while their parents aren't able to, for whatever reason." She did her best to keep judgment out of her tone, as she held none, and didn't want to offend the young woman.

Warrior finished feeding and Regina carefully burped him. "Do you want to hold him?"

"Oh...I...uh..." Emma's eyes darted around as she scuffed the toe of her shoe on the floor, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. "I haven't...uh, I haven't been in to visit him before..."

The poor girl seemed so nervous. "How old are you, dear?" Regina asked.

"18." Emma's eyes bore into the floor as her cheeks flamed red, prepared for judgment she was sure was coming.

Regina stood up. "No wonder you seem so scared. Come, sit down."

Emma hesitantly made her way over and sat down.

"Just fold your arms together, and I'll lay him down in them. It'll be alright."

Emma nodded, still highly nervous and embarrassed, but still followed the instruction.

Regina made sure Warrior could still see her while she placed him in his mother's arms, not wanting him to start screaming and make her doubt herself even more. "See? There you go, you've got him." She caressed a finger tip along his cheek.

"Wow..." Emma whispered, her eyes connecting with her son's. "He's so beautiful."

Without even thinking about it, Regina pressed a kiss to the top of Emma's head.

Emma looked up at her. "What was your name?"

"Regina Mills."

"Thank you," Emma choked out.

It was only another week before Warrior was cleared for discharge. Regina had been there every day of that week, and Emma had showed up each day as well.

"I guess this means I should finally give him a name," Emma chuckled nervously. She looked at her son. "You look like… Hm. You look like a Henry. Henry Warrior Swan."

Regina gasped. "You're making Warrior a part of his name?"

"Without you I may not have been able to name him at all." Emma sighed. "Honestly, the only reason the state didn't take him away at the time was because it seemed like he was too tiny to make it."

"Take him away?"

Emma looked down. "I… I was in juvie when I had him. The father isn't in the picture and is the bastard who put me there in the first place. I wouldn't have been able to keep him if he had been healthy enough at the time. But now I'm 18, free, the records are sealed… and he's healthy. He made it. Except..." Emma looked up at Regina fearfully. "God, I just realized I don't have anywhere to take him."

"Sure you do. That boy has me completely wrapped around his little finger. You two can stay with me, however long you need."

Emma's jaw dropped. "I-I couldn't. That's far too generous of you, and you've already done so much already..."

"You can. You just told me something of your past, now let me tell you something of mine. A bit less than four years ago, I was pregnant. My baby came early, too, just like yours. But I had postpartum depression and chose to work rather than visiting my daughter. Unlike yours, mine didn't get better. Around the time she was supposed to have been due, she died. That was a bit more than three years ago. I felt so guilty. It took me a year to figure out how to even try making things right. On the first anniversary of her death, I came here, to give babies attention so no one else would have to share my story. For every baby I've touched who has made it, my daughter's death feels a little less in vain. I even stopped working and retired early to keep coming here and seeing all the babies. It's something I'll keep doing, but if I've got a baby waiting for me at home, even though he isn't mine, it would start being a happier place to be. So, stay. Let me help you and him. You won't owe me anything."

A couple tears rolled down Emma's cheeks before she wrapped her arms around Regina in a crushing hug. "Okay," she choked out. She couldn't even imagine going through what Regina had gone through and going on to do what she had done. If Emma hadn't been able to have kept her son, or if he had died, she wasn't sure she could handle being around babies ever again, let alone volunteering to see sick ones.

Once the discharge paperwork had been filled out, along with the birth certificate, Emma made her way out of the hospital with Regina, Henry in a car seat.

"When I first came to visit, you asked me how old I was," Emma stated. "Can I ask you the same?"

"I'm 30," Regina answered. 

* * *

Henry's first birthday came and went, and he and Emma were still staying with Regina.

One night while Henry was sleeping, Emma sat herself down next to Regina, who was on her couch reading with glasses she only wore for that purpose.

"Can I ask you something?"

Regina placed a bookmark between the pages, closed the book and set it down, then slid the glasses up onto her head, giving Emma her attention.

"Are you… You don't seem to date. Or, if you do, you just don't talk about it. I'm not trying to be rude, but I don't know how to ask rather than bluntly. Do you like women, Regina?"

"I am bisexual, yes," Regina answered.

"Do you have a personal age cut-off or restriction or anything like that?"

Regina turned more to face her, drawing a leg up onto the couch beneath herself. "Miss Swan, are you trying to say you're interested in me?"

Emma blushed. "How could I not be? Plus, I already know you love my son and he loves you so the whole awkward meeting the kid stage can be totally skipped, you're letting us live here, so we're already all together pretty much all of the time… You're just amazing and wonderful and I guess I'm only worried that I wouldn't be able to give you much of anything, but, god, you make my heart race and skip beats and I just always want to be near you..."

Regina smiled and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. "Don't put yourself down, dear. You're an adult, and one that's been through far more by your age than most. So your being younger isn't even a factor to me. I can see us working well together. I just don't want to rush into too much too fast and end up with people getting hurt, especially Henry."

"To be fair, I've been trying to work up the nerve to even ask you about this for over half a year now," Emma admitted shyly. "I didn't want to rush either, so first I waited to see if it was just a temporary crush or not, but then it stuck. It's even been tested. I've been asked out, and I've had people interested in one night stands, but the thought of disappointing you made me turn them all down. Not that I was afraid you'd judge me, but more like I was already thinking of myself as yours and like anything with anyone else would be cheating, even though for all I knew you were straight."

"Really?" Regina breathed out, wondering how she hadn't seen it before. It all seemed so obvious when she was stammering over questions, but she had no idea how long she'd been wanting to ask.

Emma nodded.

"Well, since you've waited so long, I suppose you deserve..." Regina cupped her cheek with her free hand. She leaned in slowly enough to give her the opportunity to back out, then gently claimed her lips in a soft kiss. No tongue, just rather chaste, aside from how long it lingered on.

Emma sighed, melting into the kiss as she wrapped her arms around Regina. She didn't try to make the kiss more than what it was, she just wanted to be close to her.

Regina moved her arms to wrap around Emma as well, the moment feeling so blissful. She felt so at peace and she knew that just like her son, the blonde would soon have her wrapped around her finger.


End file.
